This invention relates to medical analytic techniques. More particularly this invention relates to chiropractic methods of analysis and treatment.
The spine of the patient and areas of the body of the patient adjacent thereto are of central importance in chiropractic analysis. A lack of normal nerve function can result in a condition of ill health to the patient. Interference with the nerves and normal nervous transmission can be caused by situations of malpositioned contiguous vertebrae of the spine. These situations are known as subluxations and usually trigger inflammation reactions of the paravertebral structures resulting in vasodilation thereabout. These inflamed areas of the body usually exhibit both increased temperature and increased electrical conductivity.
Chiropractic treatment to correct a condition of ill health in a patient employs a specific adjustment of bodily structures. Most particularly, a chiropractic adjustment is administered at appropriate vertebral levels along the spine of the patient. Before an appropriate treatment may be administered, the patient must be examined and the alignment of the spine analyzed.
A number of techniques hae been developed for chiropractic analysis. The chiropractic doctor may use the technique of palpation, touching with the fingers the back of the patient over the spinous and transverse processes of the spine and areas adjacent thereto. Mechanical temperature sensing devices have also been developed which are placed against the back of the patient over the spinal area. Some of the temperature sensing devices take readings simultaneously from the areas on opposite sides of the line of the spinous processes and equidistant thereto. Infrared detectors of various kinds have also been used. Electrical devices have also been developed which measure the electrical conductivity of areas of the body and which are applied to take measurements along the spine of the patient. X-ray films of the spine may also be taken. By scanning the back of the patient along the spine using palpation, temperature measurement or conductivity measurement, the doctor may ascertain areas along the spine which merit closer examination. By then taking X-ray films of the spine or applying the other techniques, the doctor can locate the areas of trauma or position of subluxations along the spine and thereby determine the adjustment which is to be made.
The foregoing analytic process can be quite cumbersome. The separate devices which are used for temperature or conductivity measurement must be maneuvered into position for use and then removed so that other devices or techniques may be used. Although the results of several different techniques can be compared to more certainly obtain the correct analysis, this is made difficult by the fact that the different techniques cannot be performed simultaneously. Furthermore, the results of an adjustment cannot be ascertained until analytic procedures have been performed again, and additional adjustments cannot be performed as soon as they might be.
A further drawback of the foregoing analytic process is that the temperature and conductivity sensing devices take readings at a discrete point on the back of the patient. When the back of the patient is scanned, a series or line of point readings are taken. Palpation permits analysis of an area of the back which is greater than a mere point. However, and with the exception of infrared thermography, a very expensive technique involving large and cumbersome machinery, neither the sensing devices nor palpation give a simultaneous reading of the whole area of the back such that the interrelationships between different areas of the back and between the conditions thereof may be ascertained.